Resolution no. 20897

Order, pursuant to article 7-octies, paragraph 1, letter b) of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 ('Consolidated Law on Finance') to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance performed through the www.iwcinvestment.com website

LA COMMISSIONE NAZIONALE PER LE SOCIETÀ E LA BORSA
[THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR COMPANIES AND THE STOCK EXCHANGE]

HAVING REGARD TO Law no. 216 of 7 June 1974 and subsequent amendments and additions;

HAVING REGARD TO Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 ('Consolidated Law on Finance') and subsequent amendments and additions;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from checks on the website www.iwcinvestment.com, it emerged that:

i. the www.iwcinvestment.com website, registered anonymously, is also available in Italian and has no mechanism in place to prevent the registration of Italian users;

ii. potential investors, subject to prior registration and the opening of an account, are offered the opportunity of trading online via platforms called 'MetaTrader5' and 'WebTrader' in 'CFDs, Forex, equity indexes, shares, cryptocurrencies and EFTS', also offering services called 'algo-trading, social-trading and asset management';

iii. in order to perform the trading transactions, an investment of money is required, to be paid into an account opened online; in particular, there are various types of account available, with different names, according to the minimum deposit to be made and the promised benefits, ('bronze', 'silver', 'gold', platinum' and there are also a 'corporate account' and 'Islamic account';

iv. The 'Contacts' section includes, among others, an Italian phone number (+39 02 87368967);

v. At the bottom of every page of the website www.iwcinvestment.com, it is stated that the website is attributable to 'IWC Investment', a company with declared registered address in Denmark;

vi. the 'Terms and Conditions' indicate the company 'IWC Investment Partners' as 'owner and operator' of the website in question; however, the same 'Terms and Conditions' indicate that the regulations applicable are those established by the 'rules' of the IFSC, the supervisory authority of Belize;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the activity at issue - still carried out thorough the aforesaid websites - qualifies as the provision of investment services as referred to in Art. 1, para. 5 of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as clients are offered the opportunity of opening a trading account against which purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments can be issued;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the aforementioned operations, still available on the www.agm-invest.com website, are directed towards Italian investors, insofar as the website is also available in Italian and insofar as there have been reports and confirmation of; 'cold calling';

HAVING CONSIDERED that the aforementioned website cannot be attributed to any entity authorised to provide investment services and activities in Italy and, therefore, it is not to be confused with IWC Investment Partners A/S, authorised by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority and registered on CONSOB's list;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved for authorised entities as referred to under art. 18, para. 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, pursuant to which, 'The professional provision of investment services and activities for the public is reserved for investment firms and banks';

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the operations in question qualify as the professional provision of investment services involving financial instruments to the Italian public, in infringement of art. 18, para. 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that, according to art. 7-octies of the Consolidated Law on Finance - 'Powers to counteract abuse' - CONSOB 'may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities through the Internet without being qualified therefore pursuant to this decree: a) make public, even by way of a precaution, the fact that the party is not authorised to perform the activity indicated in article 1, paragraph 5; b) order the party to cease the infringement';

CONSIDERING it therefore necessary in the light of the foregoing to immediately and urgently adopt this Resolution;

HEREBY RESOLVES:

The order is issued to cease the infringement of art .18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 performed via the www.iwcinvestment.com website, consisting of the offer and the provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of those concerned and published in the CONSOB Bulletin.

This measure may be appealed before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio within 60 days of the date of notification.

April 18^th, 2019

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona